BBM Channels launches today for BlackBerry smartphones

BBM Channels for BlackBerry

BlackBerry’s tentative step into the world of feed-based social networking, BBM Channels, is at last leaving beta. As of 3PM Eastern, those with BlackBerry 10 and classic BlackBerry OS devices can use the Tumblr-like service for themselves, subscribing to content feeds from both major providers and their friends. Android and iOS users, meanwhile, will have to sit tight — BlackBerry says that Channels support for their platforms is arriving in the “coming months.”

Filed under: ,

Comments

Source: CrackBerry

Google patent takes the social out of social networking: technology writes ‘personalized reactions’ for you

Facebook. Twitter. Google+. Those are just three of the many social networks out there these days, and it’s a daunting task to reply to everyone who engages you in the digital world. Google’s latest patent might just be the solution you need to keep up — it claims a technology that analyzes how you go about your social networking business and automatically makes personalized response suggestions to posts sent your way.

It constructs these automated responses by collecting social interactions, categorizing them and ranking their importance based upon prior posts to similarly labeled items. From there, it authors an appropriate reaction and provides you with the option of using it to reply, thereby saving you the countless seconds it would take to think of a response to all those cute dog and baby pictures coming your way. Google also claims that this robotic response technology can be used for email, instant messaging or texting, so it’s conceivable we could one day be having whole conversations with one another via a Google proxy. Thus ends the art of conversation.

Filed under: ,

Comments

Via: BBC News

Source: USPTO

Twitter’s new encryption could prevent governments from snooping on old tweets

Padlock

Internet services can toughen their security to mitigate government surveillance, but that won’t do much to lock down information that’s already in snoops’ hands. Twitter hopes to prevent those raids on past data through its recent implementation of Perfect Forward Secrecy, an encryption technique that stops intruders from decoding traffic on a grand scale. Each communication session has a random encryption key that never travels across networks; even if spies get full access to Twitter’s archives, they’ll have to crack any PFS-protected chats one at a time. The new policy won’t stop determined government agents from reading your tweets, but it will make them work harder for anything they want.

Filed under:

Comments

Source: Twitter Blog

Google+ for iOS gets full-res photo backups, lets you share your location

Google+ for iOS with photos and location

After nearly a month, Google is delivering on its promise of bringing full-size photo and video backups to Google+ on iOS. The app’s version 4.6 update now lets iOS 7 users upload imagery at its original resolution as long as there’s enough available cloud storage. Photographers aren’t the only ones who benefit from the new software, though. It also introduces the location-sharing option from the Android release, translates posts in-line and unifies search. Socialites eager for more detail in their pictures (or their whereabouts) just need to visit the App Store for an upgrade.

Filed under: , , ,

Comments

Source: App Store

Turntable.fm to shut down its social DJ service in favor of live concert efforts

Turntable.fm

There was a moment when Turntable.fm was seemingly ready to usher in an era of social music, with virtual DJs leading the way. Unfortunately, that moment has passed; in light of a shrinking audience and high operating costs, Turntable.fm has announced that it will shut down its DJ service on December 2nd. The company will instead focus on Turntable Live, its social platform for streaming real-world concerts. It’s a sad day for musical tastemakers, although the company is going out of its way to support fans. Users can export their playlists and tracks to services like Spotify, and the company is promising both a commemorative t-shirt as well as a “last day” party on the 2nd. If you have fond memories of spinning tunes for friends across the country, we’d suggest making room in your calendar.

Filed under:

Comments

Via: TechCrunch

Source: Turntable.fm

Vine expands its reach internationally with support for more languages

Twitter’s six-second video sharing app Vine is making a play for more markets, announcing today that its apps for iOS and Android have been translated into 19 new languages, plus two more just on Android. Also available on Windows Phone and sporting a user base of over 40 million, a blog post also mentions Vine is working on ways to highlight popular clips on a country-by-country basis. Many of the Vine’s we’ve seen work in any language, but we suppose opening up access to the app to more people will only increase the creativity seen. Now, who can translate “Ooooh, kill ’em” into Polish?

Filed under: ,

Comments

Vine Blog

Twitter scraps Android app redesign previewed to testers, concocts a hybrid interface

A bunch of Twitter’s alpha and beta testers for Android might have fired up their apps today, and thought they’d been kicked out of the program. After all, the social network recently scrapped the new design it debuted to intrepid early adopters in September and brought its older look back. The familiar buttons take their place on top of the app again, replacing the menu that allowed testers to swipe their way from one stream to another. Twitter took elements from both designs, though, so it isn’t a complete throwback to the old interface. Alpha users, in particular, see an entirely different Discover section that features a basic list view and a detailed view that shows sample tweets. Also, the prompt that pops up when you post a tweet comes with a note that reads “Are you in [city, state]?” below “What’s happening?” According to TechCrunch, the microblogging site has been getting mixed feedback from its testers, which could’ve influenced the firm’s decision. Whatever the real reason is, it looks like Twitter has more than a few kinks left to iron out before it unleashes an overhauled app to the general populace.

Filed under:

Comments

TechCrunch

Facebook’s one-click login coming to Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 apps

Android and iOS users have long been using their Facebook account for single click logging in to apps, and soon Windows 8 and Windows Phone users will be able to do the same. While the feature’s is still in its early stages (on WP8, it’s still in beta) Microsoft has announced that Foursquare, Adobe (Revel, Photoshop Express) and iHeartRadio are the first to get in on the action. Similar to Facebook Login on other platforms, using it will make it easier to share content from within the app, and connect your account info without punching in the credentials yet again. Foursquare will post your check-ins, the Adobe apps will let you upload photos easily, and you can share the station you’re listening to on iHeartRadio. Facebook users will probably want to keep an eye on their privacy settings to avoid oversharing, while holdouts from the social network can remain assured that Microsoft’s own account system is still positioned as the primary way to log in on the platform.

Filed under:

Comments

Source: Microsoft (1), (2), Facebook

Samsung builds a social networking app around S Pen doodles

PENUP app from Samsung lets you flaunt your S Pen doodles

For those who actually unsheathe the S Pen from their Samsung device from time to time (unlike yours truly), there’s now away to flaunt your stylus-ing prowess in public. The company has just launched PEN.UP, a social networking app dedicated to digital artwork from suitably-equipped Galaxy devices. Like any good sharing app, you can set up a personal feed containing your own sketches, group them thematically and follow and like others. For those who think drawing is a competitive sport, there’s even a hall of of fame where members can vie for champion artist honors. So, if you’re looking to get your S Pen on (and have a supported device), hit the source.

Filed under: ,

Comments

Via: Android Community

Source: Google Play

Facebook’s new mobile ad format keeps users coming back to familiar apps

Facebook's new mobile ad format keeps users coming back to familiar apps

Ads for mobile apps are frequently ineffective after the first viewing — once users install a given app, they rarely have incentives to try the software again. Facebook may have found a way to sustain customers’ interest through its new deep linking ad format, however. The approach takes curious visitors to a specific point in an already installed Android or iOS app. A hotel ad can invite you to book a room, for example, while a game ad may take you to a new level pack. We can’t promise that the sales pitches will be any more persuasive than before, but they may remind you of installed apps that were previously collecting virtual dust.

Filed under: , , ,

Comments

Source: Facebook Developer Blog